while u poor buggers have been freezing, its been a lovely 30 up here in darwin. the humidity is dropping and riding was pleasant today.... i did 27kms from work to home. nice run, but the first 17 is all road and very coarse road surface.. the last 10 is on path which is smooth as and lovely

I was going to go for an early ride this morning... didn't wake up till 8:00... looked outside and went back to bed. But I did go out to the shed this afternoon, and the cross bike now has a front mudguard. Given the forecast, I'm going to need it this week.

I rode to work today. had to swipe a finger across my glasses every 20 seconds for the first 5 kms. couldn't see a thing through the fog/mist and my own wet glasses (i had my lights on so no-one would run over me). got up to just near the lodge and pfffft... thud thud thud. quick change of a back flat as i started to get cold and on my way.

Hey speaking of - has Auskonrad come back to give us his product review of the seal skin gloves...?

cp123 wrote:I rode to work today. had to swipe a finger across my glasses every 20 seconds for the first 5 kms. couldn't see a thing through the fog/mist and my own wet glasses (i had my lights on so no-one would run over me). got up to just near the lodge and pfffft... thud thud thud. quick change of a back flat as i started to get cold and on my way.

Hey speaking of - has Auskonrad come back to give us his product review of the seal skin gloves...?

Yep I took the Rudy Projects off and shoved them down my jacket as I couldnt see with them on. I have a set of seal skin lobster claws - Wiggle have them in xlarge only - I have only worn them a couple of mornings here as I find that unless it is well into the minus they are too hot. I have a set of ninja ice freezer gloves that I got from Seears workwear - now you know - and find them very good to moderate minuses. As a positive they sell for 12$ and have a rubberised palm and finger grips as they are for cold material handling so good grip.

cp123 wrote:Hey speaking of - has Auskonrad come back to give us his product review of the seal skin gloves...?

I've got them. Had them for a fair few weeks now and have done some serious kilometers in them in the really bad stuff and the really cold we were/are having.

Verdict is... while this is from my perspective, they are good yes - but probably wont do for -2 or -3 downwards. Pretty good sweet spot for -2 to about 6 degrees. Not too expensive so I say it's a good buy... but probably not for the rest of the really harsh winter we are expecting. More like day gloves for the winter, need a whole other set for the 6am bunches etc (which is the perspective I'm talking from - up and riding at 5:30am to make it to start times).

They are hard to pull off sometimes, and I've already broken the link the inner glove has with the outer, making inserting your hand difficult. The cuff is probably the best made part. Thick cuff and good velcro action really seals them shut and doesn't flay out.

i am quite comfortable in what i have now - but they're just wearing out. But -2 ish isn't good enough for me. Call me scabby (hey perhaps I am!) but I need to know my money isn't wasted. I think it was Twizzle (from memory?) that bought some winter gloves last year that failed miserably. I want something that i'm confident will keep my hands warm in -6 or so comfortably.

I would be tempted to buy Cruiserman's lobster gloves and use them each day, but am only size small in hands (nothing grows in the shade... ), but am tempted to go to sears and buy ice ninja gloves. http://www.ninjagloves.com/docs/ninja_icehtp.htm Cruiser - can you confirm this is them? for $12 I'd be happy to give them a go.

We rudely interrupt this talk of cold weather and missing fingers to talk about my ride on the weekend...

Ironman number two completed on Sunday in Cairns in a stunning 28 degrees. Tough swim through a retreating tide, another stunning ride up the coast road to Port Douglas and then a hard slog through the cane fields back to Cairns. A little slower than last year due to a dodgy stomach, dehydration and a type of cognitive armageddon that typically occurs at the halfway mark of an Ironman marathon. Got home in 12:18.

The TT bike is already hung up and I'm looking forward to joining the Vets for some spring road racing in a few months.

i am quite comfortable in what i have now - but they're just wearing out. But -2 ish isn't good enough for me. Call me scabby (hey perhaps I am!) but I need to know my money isn't wasted. I think it was Twizzle (from memory?) that bought some winter gloves last year that failed miserably. I want something that i'm confident will keep my hands warm in -6 or so comfortably.

I would be tempted to buy Cruiserman's lobster gloves and use them each day, but am only size small in hands (nothing grows in the shade... ), but am tempted to go to sears and buy ice ninja gloves. http://www.ninjagloves.com/docs/ninja_icehtp.htm Cruiser - can you confirm this is them? for $12 I'd be happy to give them a go.

Thats them OK the N100 without the rubber on the knuckle is what I got. 12$ well spent in my opinion.

Moderate minus is to about -3 or apparent temp to -6-7 beyond that and the seal skin lobster claws become bearable. Please note that this is my experience only and your body temperature requirements may vary.

Gloves: SealSkinz UltraGrip Gloves - They do we very well down to about 0 (real). Anything past that, and I put thermal inner-gloves inside them. It's a perfect combo for Canberra IMO.

Riding:Did an 83km 3.5-peaks ride yesterday (Stromlo, Black, Ainslie, 0.5 = Coppins). Was fun, except we cut it short at the end instead of rounding out the 100. Too bloody cold. Also... 39-25 is not an appropriate ratio for Black and Ainslie, i.e.: my knees hurt.

Twiz - The other week i coughed up to buy some Kathmandu ski gloves to use on the bike. I thought about the ninja gloves but never got out there, so I took a punt at the winter Kathmandu sale.

They are black and were approx $120 down to approx $80. I was bit sceptical but have ridden in them for the past week (including this morning) and would rate them as good. My hands haven't been cold at all. http://www.kathmandu.com.au//12538/Alpi ... Glove.html Just for what it's worth if you're still freezing.

I didn't want to waste my hard earned dosh on a pair that failed. Just looking at that link - i don't think the inside bit really does come out. hmmm... well, not on this pair i shouldn't think.... maybe it's not the same pair but looks pretty much like it. There's also a little pocket thingy that apparently you can buy a heat cube of some sort to shove in them, but i haven't used that.

Yep. Ultegra cranks. I've only had it for a few weeks and after today's ride had to the drop front wheel (kyrsium elites) off to get trued and a quick checked for another problem. It sounds like it has spokey dokeys when you climb out of the saddle. Hopefully it's nothing major.

What happened to your frame?

I wanted to get the 2011 Reacto with the SRAM red, but couldn't get it in a small.